England soccer captain David Beckham on Friday launched his literary career, presenting his autobiography My Side and describing it as "a nice story, from my heart."
"I've got so many fans from around the world, from young children, boys and girls, to nans and grandads. I think people just like reading a nice story," Beckham said at the swanky Ritz hotel in the Spanish capital.
Sitting in front of a backdrop featuring the front cover's close-up photo together with the title in 11 languages, Beckham said "everything here is the truth and people will like reading it."
PHOTO: EPA
The book covers Beckham's family life and his thoughts on fame, but also reveals his feelings on what have been a difficult 12 months.
Beckham, who surprised the soccer world by leaving Manchester United for Madrid in June, will reportedly earn ?1.5 million (US$2.4 million) from the book.
Publishing director Michael Doggart of Collins Willow, the sporting wing of publisher HarperCollins, said at the launch that the combined first print of Beckham's book was over one million copies worldwide.
Ghostwritten by British author and broadcaster Tom Watts, the 391-page autobiography has been produced in collaboration with 12 overseas publishers, Doggart said.
The English-language edition went on sale in Britain and another 50 countries on Friday. The US edition will be released on Sept. 25.
Doggart said that the deal was signed after the World Cup last year and the book was completed at the time of Beckham's move to Madrid.
He added that he had never imagined that the book would not be launched in Manchester.
"I know that David didn't either," Doggart said.
The autobiography includes details of Beckham's romance with his wife, the former Spice Girl, Victoria, and his stormy relationship with United coach, Alex Ferguson.
"Once you read the book you'll see that there's a lot more positive stuff in there about him [Ferguson] than there is negative. Headlines can be misleading," Beckham said.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in